MP for Maamigilli constituency and leader of opposition Jumhooree Party, Qasim Ibrahim has been summoned to the police.

He has been ordered to present himself at the headquarters of the Maldives Police Service (MPS) at 9 pm on Saturday night, according to his defence lawyer Mohamed Waheed.

This is his second summoning in a week; he was summoned to police on March 29, over allegations of ‘bribery, threatening voters and attempting to bribe an individual’. He was also questioned over a public speech he had given, inviting parliamentarians to join the opposition movement. Authorities have also imposed a travel ban on thye JP leader, and frozen the bank accounts of his business, Villa Shipping Company Private Ltd.

Opposition claim that authorities are being used to harass and intimidate Qasim, as well as others involved in opposition movement.

In addition to Qasim, police have so far summoned MP Ahmed Faris Maumoon- who had led the no-confidence motion against parliament speaker, - MP Abdulla Riyaz, MP Mohamed Waheed and the secretary general of the Maldivian Democratic Party of Maldives (MDP), Anas Abdul Sattar.

On March 24, the same night that key opposition signed an agreement, Faris revealed that he had been summoned to the police, five times in three days.

The opposition coalition has called on the government to immediately stop using state institutions to harass and intimidate opposition figures.